


Belongs To Us  (aka the spring training story)

by Lunaris (lunaris1013)



Category: Pundit RPF (US)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-02-14
Updated: 2007-02-14
Packaged: 2017-10-02 17:03:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaris1013/pseuds/Lunaris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Dan and Keith go to Florida for spring training together for the first time since their SportsCenter days and end up confronting their past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Belongs To Us  (aka the spring training story)

**Author's Note:**

> Love and thanks to all of you who audienced this over the course of the past year. Special thanks to A who beta'd her first fanfic just for me. If anything herein is particularly sucky, it's because I did not heed her words. Also scrunchy who provided that outside opinion I needed to believe I could finish this.

**March 2006**

"Come with me."

It took but a fraction of a second for Dan's mind to race through the myriad meanings that may be behind that simple invitation. A simple invitation stemming from a very long, complex relationship. When he answered, his voice belied his uncertainty.

"Keith, I don't..."

When they were working together on SportsCenter, spring training had become their annual vacation together. For five years they rented the same condo in Tampa and, armed with their ESPN press passes, made the rounds of the training camps each day.

"I didn't mean..."

It was during their first trip together that they had become lovers; it was during their last trip together that it had all fallen apart.

"I'm not asking you to do anything but hang out and watch some baseball and drink in a little Florida sunshine. That, and," he paused for effect, "drive the rental car."

Dan felt a sense of relief wash over him. They'd come to terms with the breakup of their professional relationship, but in the years since then they'd never even mentioned the end of their intimate relationship. He was sure that over the course of the past nine years all the old wounds had healed over, but it was now obvious that one still remained.

It was also obvious by Keith's reaction that he had no intention of picking at that particular scab. "So that's your motive? Tired of paying for cabs?"

Keith sounded relived. "What else would it be?"

Keith wanted him to come to Tampa, ostensibly with no other motive than that they're working together again and hey, it'll be fun! He knew Keith far too well to think that he didn't understand the implications, and Dan couldn't help but wonder if they'd spend the entire weekend circling the elephant in the room or if they'd finally say what had been bottled up for nine long years. Not to mention that lingering idea that Keith wanted to pick up where they left off -- hell, why talk about it if you could act like it never ended?

"So you'll come?"

"I'll see what I can do."

"Good. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Night."

Dan hit the button to end the call, and dropped the phone in his lap. Spring training. A month's worth of big league ball in tiny, relaxed parks filled with an equal mix of snowbirds and dedicated fans. Keith looked forward to it every year in the same way a kid looked forward to Christmas, always finding a way to spend as much of the month of March in central Florida as humanly possible. This year the MSNBC brass didn't want to let him off when his ratings were on fire; he talked them into letting him have two weeks of working vacation down there. Anything for baseball.

Dan was pretty sure this wasn't a good idea, but he was damn sure that he'd talked himself into going.

******

It was just after ten on Saturday morning when Dan approached the long line of rental car outlets at the Airport. Keith was right where he said he'd be, leaning on the end of the Hertz counter like he was holding it up, sporting sunglasses and a day's worth of beard on his jaw. A thousand memories of Keith and Tampa flashed through Dan's mind, not the least of which was how that stubble felt against his face and neck, inside his thighs…

He stopped in the middle of the concourse. Outwardly, he was rearranging his luggage for a better grip; inwardly, he was trying to get a grip on himself. Just last week he had all but accused Keith of dredging up that part of their past and there he was, not ten minutes into the vacation, being betrayed by his own memories.

This really wasn't a good idea.

Dan looked up to see Keith watching him. At least it seemed as though he was, with that enigmatic half-smirk on his face. It was too hard to tell behind the dark lenses. Keith seemed startled when Dan dropped his bag next to the counter. "Did I wake you?"

"Huh? No. I…" With a slight nod, Keith indicated what he actually was watching, a gaggle of sorority girls flying home from spring break, and smiled.

Dan smiled back, yet felt a twinge of disappointment that he quickly pushed to the back of his mind. It was a relief his partner was thinking of pretty young girls and not him, wasn't it? Sure it was. Except for that part where the illusion he didn't even realize he was under had burst. It was over long ago, Dan had seen to that himself. But there was no time to analyze it as he turned his attention to laying out his credit card and signing the rental contracts while Keith laid out the itinerary for the weekend.

"…so as soon as we dump our bags we should take off for the ballpark."

"Where are we staying, anyway? Not that same rat trap as before?" _That place where we broke the bed right before things fell apart?_.

"Same address, but no longer a rat trap. You won't recognize it."

That was a relief.

Dan really didn't recognize the place. It was now decidedly upscale, with no sign of anyone under the age of 21. Quieter. And their unit was a two bedroom suite. Each man headed to one of the bedrooms and put their luggage down. This is good, Dan thought, with the slightest twinge of regret, _No questions, no mixed signals, no temptation_. He sat on the edge of the bed and put his head in his hands. It was occurring to him, bit by uncomfortable bit, that Keith wouldn't be a problem this weekend, it would his own self he'd have to watch out for.

The reverie was broken by Keith's appearance in the doorway. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah!" Dan quickly moved to retrieve his press pass from his bag, "Let's get to the ballpark!"

It was easy for Dan to push everything but baseball out of his mind for the rest of the afternoon. Keith has forgotten more about the game than most people would ever know, yet Dan had always kept up with him pretty easily. It was that way from the day they met. The afternoon passed pleasantly with the familiar chatter of players and coaches, old acquaintances rekindled and new ones made, the easy camaraderie of men playing a boys' game. All too soon they were making their way back to the condo, making Dan nervous about what he might say or do in the course of the evening that would betray his thoughts.

*****

While Keith stretched out in front of the television, Dan opted for a shower; he hated following Keith in the bathroom. Hot water and a pep talk should get his head right. _Why are you doing this now? It's not like you haven't seen or talked to the man in nine years; you see him all the damn time. You're just reacting to a familiar situation in a familiar way. That's all it is._ By the time he was dry and dressed, he was even believing it. Until, that is, he walked back into the living room.

With the clipped accents of BBC America as his soundtrack, Dan headed to the fridge for a beer. When he turned toward Keith, he saw that his partner had his glasses off, rubbing his forehead.

"You okay?"

"Just a headache. Too much sun today."

Dan stood behind Keith and held the cold bottle to the back of his neck, saw him shiver slightly, heard him moan in appreciation. _This isn't a good idea_, Dan thought for the thousandth time, _Don't do this. Don't go there. There will be no coming back._ Everyone eventually has a moment when their heart and hormones overrule their head, and this was turning out to be Dan's. Before thinking about it further Dan put the beer down on the table and started massaging Keith's neck. Just as he'd done countless times before, he kneaded Keith's shoulders and breathed in his scent, that familiar mixture of sunshine and after shave and clean sweat. There was no longer the smoky note of a twenty dollar cigar mixed in, but it was still laying over the scent that was inexplicable except to say that it was Keith. Keith, who was totally relaxed; slouched forward, eyes closed. Dan kept up his ministrations - pressed small circles at the base of the skull with his thumbs, ran his fingers through Keith's hair, kissed that spot on his neck…

_Fuck! _ Was Dan's immediate thought as he froze, Keith froze, and the entire world seemed to stand still for several seconds.

"Dan?"

"Keith?" Dan suddenly realized that he was still leaning over his partner, hands still resting on his shoulders. He jerked them back like a child who had touched a hot stove, then took a step back.

Keith turned in his chair to face him. "Would you like to tell me what that was about?" He looked impassive, waiting for an answer.

"I… I'm sorry. I didn't…" _Yes I did._

"Didn't mean it? Didn't think?"

"Didn't know that would happen." _Liar._

Keith rose and moved to stand in front of Dan, unable to hide his emotions any longer. "I sure as hell didn't think so either." Was that joy in his eyes, or sadness? Confusion? A flash of anger?

"I know I said I didn't want…"

"You made that very clear. And I never intended…"

"I know. And I never intended either. But when I saw you at the airport this morning…"

"It all came back."

"All of it. I've been fighting with it all day. It just…"

"…Seems like we should be together because we're in Tampa. In March." Keith reached out, caressed the side of Dan's face, drew him into an embrace. "Yeah, I know," he whispered.

It was unclear to Dan which one of them initiated that first kiss; it was as if they were responding automatically, without thought, only emotion. It was quite clear that Keith had been as hungry for it has he had as it grew from tentative to fiery and passionate, leaving Dan feeling relieved and giddy and ready for more. He pulled back, ready for what came next, and tried to lead Keith to his bed. Keith, however, wasn't moving. As a matter of fact, he didn't look nearly as happy about this turn of events as Dan would have liked. Maybe this was a worse idea than he'd thought.

"What…?"

"No."

_"No?" _

"Do you think everything is suddenly okay now?" Keith's voice was incredulous, angry. "This isn't happily ever after, Dan. I'm not just going to fall back into your bed after all these years, not after what you did to me. Do you remember that? Tell me what's changed with you. You're still married. You still have kids. What were the other excuses you gave me that night for ending this part of our lives?"

_So here it is_, Dan thought, _He finally wants to talk about the elephant in the room and you pushed him into it. This is what you really wanted, isn't it? The confrontation._ "Our careers. You remember that part, don't you? You and me against the world. You seem to have forgot that part pretty damn quickly, _buddy_."

"That part ended when 'you and me' became little more than colleagues, just barely friends." Keith paused, sighed, and continued in a lower tone of voice. "Look, I understood about your family obligations. That's why I…"

"No you didn't."

"I didn't?"

"You didn't understand." Dan raked his fingers through his hair and began to pace. "You couldn't have because I didn't tell you everything."

"Want to fill me in now?"

Dan stopped his pacing and sat on the sofa. "My marriage was in serious trouble at the time."

Keith stopped his own agitated pacing and sat next to Dan. "Because of…"

"No. Sue didn't know about that part of our relationship. Still doesn't. It was a lot of other things. She was threatening me with divorce."

"Why didn't you tell me this before? Back then?"

Dan shrugged. "I was afraid. Not just of losing my family, but of her finding out and using it against me in court. Taking away my kids. I was afraid I'd become too dependent on you, that we'd get careless, that we'd get outed and lose SportsCenter. I was afraid that if the network backburnered us I couldn't pay the child support." Dan looked up at his partner. "And I didn't tell you any of that because you wouldn't have let me go through it alone like I needed to."

"So you deliberately pushed me away instead."

Dan nodded.

"You know how…"

"Yeah, I know how stupid it sounds now. But it didn't then. I was panicking."

"I get that now. Everything eventually worked out, obviously."

"I don't think it would have if I hadn't done what I did."

"If you hadn't done what you did, I wouldn't have left Bristol."

Dan looked over at Keith. He may have been feeling more sanguine about everything at the moment, but this wasn't over by a long shot.

Keith returned his gaze. "You were the only thing keeping me there."

"I was still…"

"No you weren't. You were fixing your marriage. Not that I knew that at the time." Dan opened his mouth to speak, to defend himself, but Keith raised his hand to quiet him. "That's not laying blame; that's acknowledging you did what was right. But I had no way of knowing that, did I? From this side of the equation, it was you suddenly not having time for me. The only time I saw you then was at the office or those few nights we spent working on the book. You weren't my Dan any more."

"So you broke up our partnership."

"No. _You_ broke up our partnership."

"That's not what I mean!"

"That's not what I mean, either!" Keith sighed and threw his head back on the sofa cushion. "I'm not talking about sex here, Dan. I'm talking about not having my partner. Jesus Christ, I could hardly talk to you about anything at the time. I sure as hell couldn't say, 'Hey buddy! Let's blow this place while we're still hot!' when you were putting as much distance between us as you could. I needed to get out of there for a lot of reasons; you became one of them."

"I never forgave you for leaving."

"I know. I had plenty of chances to leave before then. I had offers that didn't include you."

"I know."

"You knew?"

"Yeah. But you never took them."

"I was staying because of you. Then."

"I know. But why…"

"Why did I want to come back and do the radio thing?"

"Yeah."

"Because I have one year left on my MSNBC contract. Because I thought that after that, maybe I'd try to go back to sports. And if things were good between us again…"

"That we could be partners."

"That was the whole point of asking you to come down here with me, to see if I could get you back. Like it used to be. Not like that!" Keith added hurriedly, "though…"

"So are we okay again?"

"I don't know. Are we? Am I forgiven?"

"Forgiven. But I'll never let you forget it."

"I'm sure you won't."

Dan smiled. "Damn straight."

"I gotta ask, though. A week ago you were pretty adamant about not wanting to pick things up, but you were just ready to drag me off to bed."

"I guess I really wanted you back too." Dan shrugged. "I was trying to convince myself I didn't more than I was trying to convince you."

"You failed miserably."

"Not yet I haven't. You still haven't consented to come to bed with me."

"One condition. You never not tell me things again."

"I swear. Same goes for you. If there's a problem, you tell me."

"Promise."

_And that_, thought Dan, _is that. We have our answers and made our confessions. But is it enough? _ He stood and held out his hand to Keith, pulling him up and into a kiss. _No. Two more things need to be said. _ He broke the kiss and looked into those familiar dark blue eyes. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too."

"I love you. Always have."

"I always will."

Dan grinned at him. "You are such a girl."

"Complaining? 'Cause I don't have to let you fuck me."

"Get your ass in the bedroom!"

"Oh, that's right! You have to fail miserably, don't you?"

"Let's get this straight. I am a failure at convincing, not fucking."

"If you were a failure at fucking, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

By this time they'd actually made it to his bed, and Dan found himself pushed unceremoniously to the mattress. He reached up, grabbed a handful of Keith's shirt, and pulled him down too. What followed was a scramble to get fully on to the bed punctuated by kisses, hard and fast and sloppy. Oriented more or less conventionally, Dan kicked at the bedspread and Keith pulled at the blanket and when they were down to bare sheets they started on their clothes. One ESPN t-shirt and one Ralph Lauren polo shirt hit the floor simultaneously and Dan found himself pushed back down one more time.

"Still a pushy son of a bitch, aren't you?"

"You love it and you know it." With that, Keith removed Dan's boxers at a speed previously attained only by an Indy pit crew changing a tire.

"In a hurry?"

"It's been nine years. What do you think?"

If Dan had bothered to think at all that thought would have immediately vanished as Keith descended upon him, mouth like a furnace then slowing down, tongue gliding up the underside of his cock, bottom teeth lightly dragging over the sweet spot. He looked down to see Keith looking back, watching him as though to ask, 'are you sure?' Yeah baby, I'm sure. We're gonna be fine, he thought, smiling and reaching down to brush back the grey hair that had fallen over Keith's eyes.

A nudge and a nip and Dan pulled his knees up and spread his legs and there it was, the familiar scrape of a two-day beard on the tender skin inside his thighs. He laughed and tensed at the sensation, making Keith stop long enough to speak.

"When did you get so ticklish?"

"I'm not. I just... I missed that."

Keith looked at him with a hint of disbelief. "What? This?" he said, giving a full-cheek rasp to his left leg.

"Yeah. That was..."

"What?"

Dan shook thoughts from the airport that morning out of his head. "Nothing. Ya know, the thing I missed most about sex with you is that part where you don't actually talk when my dick is in your mouth."

That comment earned Dan a playful glare as Keith stuck his index finger in his mouth and brought it out with a pop and a good coating of saliva. Dan wasn't at all sure he was ready for that and felt a tiny wave of panic hit. "Uh, you know it's been a long time."

But Keith was already pressing into that opening with his spit-slick finger. "Oh, it's not like you're a virgin. I think your ass'll remember just fine." True statement that, Dan's ass did remember. All it took was a brush against his prostate and he was trying to fuck himself against Keith's fingers - three of them by now. That particular motion of his hips also meant he was fucking Keith's mouth. A combination which sent him over the edge hard and fast.

Dan, as yet unable to move, regarded his partner. Keith was still in his dusty khakis, now sitting back on his heels. He ran his thumb under his bottom lip, and Dan watched him lick a stray bit of spunk off of it and decided that that gesture would never stop being sexy. Neither would the sight of Keith unfastening his pants. "So. What are we gonna do about you?"

Keith slid his hand between the cotton and his skin, stroking slowly. Intently. "You could watch me do it myself. Unless you have something else in mind."

"Oh no." Dan reached up, took hold of Keith's unoccupied hand and tugged; Keith let himself be pulled on top of his partner. "If you think that I'll be content to look and not touch after all these years, you are sadly mistaken. Just get your clothes off."

They moved away from one another -- Dan leaned over the bed and dug in his bag; Keith ungracefully wiggled out of his pants. Meeting back in the middle of queen-size mattress, Keith found himself presented with a bottle of sunscreen. "Improvise."

"Shouldn't this be the other way around?"

"Complaining? 'Cause I don't have to let you fuck me."

"On your knees, smartass."

Dan did as he was told and knelt on the mattress. The snap of a plastic cap, a thud as the bottle landed on the floor, and Keith was behind him. He leaned back and was met with a low growl and a line of kisses down his neck. "Ten minutes ago you were pretty skittish, are you sure this is what you want?"

"Ten minutes ago I didn't remember how good you…"

"We. How good we are."

Keith gave Dan a nudge, and he went down on all fours. It was alien and familiar at the same time, that feeling of being slicked up, and Dan knew there was a joke in there somewhere about having that particular skin care product applied where the sun doesn't shine. But now was not the time to voice it. Now was the time to listen to his partner keep telling him to relax and heeding that advice. He did, and Keith pushed into him, leaning over his back, wrapping an arm around his waist.

Slow and easy gave way to a steady, insistent rhythm. A little harder, a little faster, and Dan was moving back to meet each thrust, increasing the intensity, until he felt the arm around him tighten and heard Keith's steady stream of soft grunts and expletives come to an end. A silence, an exultation to the heavens, and they both collapsed into a sticky, sated heap.

"Hey."

"Huh."

"Get off."

"I just..."

"Of me."

With exaggerated effort, Keith did as he was told and rolled to the edge of the bed. "Happy?"

"Yeah. I missed this."

"That's not what I meant, but I'll take that rare indulgence in sentimentality."

"Shut up and come here." Dan scooted toward the head of the bed, found a pillow, and laid down. Keith followed suit and they were soon knee to knee and nose to nose, each with a hand on the other's hip. "So what now?"

"Now I get a shower…"

"You are a little ripe at this point."

"…and then we'll climb into my bed, the one with clean sheets, where I will nibble on your neck some more. Eventually we'll fall asleep. You, of course, will snore like a moose. "

"And you'll get up around 2:30 and watch TV. Just like old times."

"Just like old times."

"But that's not what…"

"I know. Leave it for tomorrow."

"Yeah. Good plan." Dan pulled his partner close and kissed him. Gone was the urgency of just an hour ago, but the intensity remained. They were slow, languid kisses, the kind that would go on forever if breathing weren't an issue. They pulled one another closer, legs entwined, luxuriating in the feel of skin on skin. Dan was drowsy and warm, lulled by the familiar feel of Keith's hand tracing circles on his bare back.

"So are you going to tell me what that was about?"

The question pulled Dan from his doze. "Hrm?"

"You denied being ticklish."

"Oh. That. It's nothing."

"Tell me."

"I... When I first saw you in the airport this morning..."

"Would this be before or after you set down your bags and stared?"

"So you _were_ watching!"

"Couldn't help it. Go on."

"Before I stopped and stared..."

"Uh huh..."

"I, uh, had a little flashback to how your beard used to feel."

"You were fetishizing beard burn."

"I wasn't fetishizing, it was sense memory."

"So you're not gonna bitch tomorrow morning when your pants are suddenly uncomfortable, right?"

"Nope. I'll take it like a man. But I do reserve the right to want to remain standing at breakfast."

*********   
When Dan woke up at 4:18 the other side of the bed was empty and he heard the soft click of computer keys from the next room. When he woke up at 7:32 Keith was spooned behind him, sound asleep. When he went in to the bedroom at 10:13 Keith regarded him through barely opened eyes.

"You awake?"

"More or less," Keith grumbled, rolling onto his back to get a better view. Then his eyes opened wider. Then he put on his glasses. "You have no pants."

"I thought they'd be superfluous until we actually go out."

"But the shirt is somehow not superfluous?"

"I didn't have the bright idea about the pants until after I put on the shirt, so I just left it. It also kept me from walking around completely naked."

Keith looked decidedly lecherous. "I think you need to lose the shirt, too."

As he strolled over to the bed, Dan did as suggested. He then flung back the covers, climbed on the bed and knelt over Keith, straddling his hips. "This better?" he asked, taking Keith's glasses from him and relegating them to the safety of the bedside table.

"Mmm… much."

Dan shifted his weight slightly then took both of their half-hard cocks in hand and started a slow, firm stroke. "And how about now?"

"Even better. What else do you have planned?"

"That depends. How do you feel about sunscreen?"

"I understand it has a thousand and one uses. You can even put it where…"

"Don't."

"Too easy?"

"I thought of every single one of them last night."

"We have sex for the first time in nearly a decade and you run through a list of bad jokes?"

"That, and all the things I want to do to you to make up for lost time."

"Care to demonstrate?"

"If you were paying attention," Dan gave a small twist to the hand doing the stroking, "you'd know I've already started."

"I was far too distracted by how good I feel right now."

"You're about to feel a whole lot better." Dan crawled to the other side of the bed, reached over the side and produced the bottle of sunscreen, now slightly sticky, and settled in between his partners knees. "Pillow?"

Keith dutifully grabbed the pillow he wasn't using and stuffed it under his lower back. "Watch your aim, you're the one who has to sleep on that one tonight."

_No, I won't get the chance. I fly back home this evening._ He didn't voice that thought; Dan decided it was best to just stay in the moment in case there wouldn't be many more of them.

From the time Dan entered Keith, they moved together almost as one, like the years of estrangement never happened. Where last night had been a sloppy rush, the morning was controlled and intense, both of them determined to make it last as long as they could. It was one of the rare occasions when both men turned off the words, content to lock eyes with one another. This was the homecoming Dan had needed, though he didn't realize it until it was happening.

As though he were reading Dan's mind and knew or, less romantically, just reached that same point himself, Keith wrapped his legs around his partner's back. That was the not-so-subtle hint that it was time to pick up the pace. Harder, faster, matching the rhythm Keith was using on his own cock, watching him come, following right after.

There was some cursory cleanup and a bit of negotiation for space which found them sharing a pillow. He was trying to push back his doubts and unease, but Dan's mind was spinning, wondering what was still to come.

"What's on your mind?"

The sound of Keith's voice shook Dan from his reverie. "Huh? Nothing."

"Don't give me that." Keith propped himself up on an elbow and looked down at Dan, "Remember who you're talking to."

"I'm just trying to figure out what happens now."

"We get up, get dressed and go to the ballpark."

"Keith…"

"I know, I know. Can't we do this part later?"

"When? My flight's at seven tonight and by the time…"

"Tonight? Can't you…"

"Yes, I can leave in the morning. Maybe. But this conversation still needs to happen."

"Yeah." Keith sounded resigned. "What do you want to do? It's not like we can just pick up where we left off. The past twelve hours notwithstanding."

"I don't know. Right now I'd be happy to never leave this room. But out there? In the real world? I don't know that I can do this again."

"Dan…"

"I also don't know that I can not do this again."

"I want you back…

"That's what I needed to know."

"…but no matter what it can't be like before. We don't share an office and I don't conveniently live a few miles up the road. At best I'd see you a few times a month when you come into the city."

"Yeah, but I'm still the guy with the family and you're still the one that's single."

They lapsed into silence. What happened next was Dan's decision. It had always been Dan's decision for that very reason. He turned on his side and Keith automatically pressed against his back and held him. Things would probably be complicated for a while, but it would all be worth it just for this.

**Author's Note:**

> _Disclaimer: Any similarity between the fictional version of the persons portrayed here and the actual persons is purely coincidental. This is a work of fiction. This is not an attempt to defame the character of said person on the basis of libel, as the work is FICTIONAL (and NOT an intently false statement created with the express purpose of misleading others about the actual character of said person)._
> 
> _Any mention of any associated entities, or any copyrighted material pertaining therein is reasonably protected by the Fair Use Rule of the United States Copyright Act of 1976, and is not intended to infringe upon any copyrighted material._


End file.
